THE JEWISH NEWS iusps275520 Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951 Member of American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers and National Editorial Association and Affiliate Member of National Newspaper Association and Capital Club. Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Site 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 Postmaster: Send address changes to The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 ..4econd-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $15 a year. CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ Business Manager PHILIP SLOMOVITZ Editorand Publisher ALAN HITSKY News Editor HEIDI PRESS Associate News Editor DREW LIEBERWITZ Advertising Manager Sabbath Scriptural Selections This Sabbath, the 22nd day of Heshvan, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in .pur synagogues: Pentateuchal portion. Genesis 23:1-25:18. Prophetical portion, 1 Kings 1:1-31. Candle lighting, Friday, October 31, 5:10 p.m. VOL. LXXVIII, No. 9 Page Four October 31, 1980 A BOOK FAIR WITH A MISSION Detroit's annual Jewish Book Fair, commenc- ing this Saturday evening, retains special sig- nificance for the entire community. The cooperation given the perennial celebra- tion to the sponsors of the nine-day program, the Jewish Community Center, by two score organ- izations and congregations retains for the events the importance of cooperation devoid of partisanship. There is unity in the emphasis due to a cultural undertaking which encourages thousands of constituents of the sponsoring groups to read books and to purchase them, and in the process to attain the status of an informed community. The authors selected for participation in the more than 20 program meetings are authoritative writers whose works deal with matters of current and historical Jewish inter- est. Their appearance here creates a link be- tween readers and authors, and also gives spe- cial attention to the fact finding and research involved in the writing of the books, thus serv- ing as means of sharing with the community the knowledge that is so vital for the creation of an informed constituency. Honored with the title Am HaSefer — the People of the Book — there is always the shortcoming of a mere minority responding to the call of the Book. The Book Fair corrects some of the follies related to the honor of being traditionally devoted to the printed word and to the knowledge it imparts. Detroit's Jewish community has been a leader in creating an instrument for the glorifi- cation of the printed word, for the respect that is inspired for authors, for encouragement to pub- lishers. This year's Book Fair promises to con- tinue that record for cultural creativity and the Book Fair's sponsors merit commendations for their efforts. LOOKING AHEAD TO Nov. 5 This nation looks forward, with confidence, that as of Nov. 5 only confidence and faith will predominate for all Americans. The Day of Judgment, the coming Tuesday, challenges all citizens. The quest for votes by the major candidates for. President, during the preceding months, introduced the candidates and emphasized the issues. The American voter is traditionally trustworthy. He is the better judge of events because he listens and studies, reads and debates. When he blunders he knows that in the course of time there will be correc- tions and assumptions of the rational and prac- tical for the people of this democracy. Because there is no permanence in office-holding, there is always the assure 09. that errors are correcti- ble. The issues .re multiple. The domestic prob- lems are often oppressive, as they are currently in the economic sphere. The foreign obligations have not been ignored by the candidates. - Now the voter rules, if only for a single day quadrennially, and exerts power exceeding any other in the entire universe. The responsi- bility is immense and those casting their ballots could not possibly be unaware of their serious- ness. This nation has experienced many oppressive occurrences. To the internal, the economic and the social, the principled involving the religions of the citizens and the civil rights that are the sacred duty for all, have not been attained too easily. To these have been added the foreign pressures, some of them like those of American hostages in a backward country, which have been depressing. As of the coming Wednesday, there will be a leadership charged with the obli- gation to aim at justice for all and freedoms that are undeniable. As of the coming Wednesday, there will be a renewed confidence tha 4 Americans do not buckle under oppressie that justice and fair play are on the agenda Tor all, regardless of how they voted on Tuesday. This is the confidence with which Tuesday must be approached. Because of it, the b( 3t judginent must be anticipated. The Americ. who rules on Tuesday will surely be the one wh ■ _ also will be assuming the inerasable duty of being the vigilant who will insist on the con- tinuity of the ideals that are the very roots of true Americanism. In this spirit, the future must be anticipated as one which will never tolerate injustice. Iii this spirit the American spirit will emerge again as indestructible in the administrations in power in the decades ahead. DANGEROUS PROPOSAL At the impressive annual dinner of the Jewish National Fund, at which he was honored with the planned forest in Israel, University of Michigan President Harold Shapiro expressed concern that the so-called Tisch Amendment would endanger the educational programs for this state. This is a fear that is expressed wherever con- cerned citizens meet prior to Tuesday's election. Should the tax cuts as they are propagated in the Tisch Amendment be made effective, there would not only be a wholesale effect on employ- ment of teachers and staff members of scores of state services, but the entire educational sys- tem could be ruined. This is, therefore, a recog- nition of the impending dangers and a warning to reject the threat at the polls on Tuesday. The dangers inherent in a sensationalized proposal aimed at arousing false hopes teaches voters a lesson. The proponents of the question- able legislation can be, usually are, very sincere citizens who believe they are making great con- tributions to their state and their people. Be- cause they are deluding themselves does not help the communities unless citizens study events and needs. Therefore, what is vital in a democratic society is that those who seek to protect it should study proposed legislation and should be ready to judge for themselves. When the bitterness of the 1980 election will have been recorded into history, it will be a time once again to think in terms of creating not only a concerned but also a knowledgeable consti- tuency. This is vital for our democratic way. Jewish Publication Society Volume Selected Scholarly Essays From Dr. Buber's Der Jude' . "Der Jude," the important periodical that was published under the editorship of Dr-. Martin Buber, contained so many important essays on a variety of Jewish topics that it retains its importance for students of Jewish ethical and other problems who are in need of material for their studied research. The Jewish Publication Society, therefore, lends'importance to a number of selected essays from "Der Jude" in its latest volume, "The Jew," subtitled "Essays From Martin Buber's Journal 'Der Jude,' 1916-1928." This volume gains significance in its editorship by Arthur Cohen, who did both the selecting and editing of the collected works and.who wrote an introduction to the volume. - The essays were translated from the German by Joachim Neug- roschel. The 22 essays in "The Jew" on subjects of imperishable interest, such as nationalism, Yiddish as a language, the Hebrew language and_the national future, Zionist ideology, the Galut liturgical topics, historical writing, and many others. Hermann Cohn's ideological conflicts enter into discussion, and of the essays by Dr. Buber himself there is one entitled "Zion, the State and Humanity: Remarks on Hermann Cohn's Answer." It is a defense of Zionism," rooted in the goal, "sons of Messiah," different but not aliens everywhere. It is an affirmation of Zionist faith, written in 1916, declaring the movement to be "on the way, for the sake of salvation." An essay on "Zionism and Max Nordau" by Leo Strauss retains historic interest. Tracing Dr. Nordau's interpretive and definitive skills and his views on many Jewish problems, essayist Strauss ex- plains that "Nordau takes it for granted that the helotry of assimila- tion must be replaced by the Spartan spirit of Zionism. This is nothing less than the consequence of substituting more virile casualism for theologism in regard to ethics and thereby Jewish politics." A strong appeal for Yiddish as a Jewish language of merit was made in one of the essays entitled "Yiddish," published in "Der Jude" in 1916. In this essay, Moses Calvary advocated equality for Yiddish with German and declared: "At the moment, the Yiddish-speaking nation is experiencing a peculiar antagonism, the hostilities and encounters of Hebrew and Yiddish. Jewish youth in the Orient, from Aleppo and Teheran to Cairo, are passionate speakers of Hebrew; in Poland, Yiddish is grow ing into a literature. Contradictory developments. "Hebrew, all style — and therefore, as Berdichevky (1865-1921) once explained, the language of young Jewish science and scholarship — in the process of becoming softer, subtler, more alive; Yiddish, once only a spoken, malleable language, has been moving towards style for several generations now. This essay is not meant to decide the issue, but merely to demonstrate the right of Yiddish to exist as a separate and independent language alongside German." The JPS volume "The Jew" offers guidance for teachers and students alike and is challenging to this day, although many of the essays were written more than 60 years ago. In his introduction, Arthur Cohen pays honor to Martin Buber, describes "Der Jude" as a "heroic enterprise, a free journal, indepen- dent of party or movement and committed only to the highest intellec- tual discussions and commentary concerning issues principally and primarily Jewish.", It is in this spirit that the JPS volume is as important as Dr. Buber's journal was in his day.